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fluorine-18

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Also known as 18F, F-18

Fluorine-18 (18F, also called radiofluorine) is a fluorine radioisotope which is an important source of positrons. Its half-life is 109.734 minutes, less than two hours, and one of the shortest of radioisotopes with use outside research. It decays by positron emission 96.7% of the time and electron capture 3.3% of the time. Both modes of decay yield stable oxygen-18.

Key facts

Isotope.image
Fluorine-18 decay.svg
Isotope.image_caption
Decay over 24 hours
Isotope.alternate_names
Fluorine-18
Isotope.mass_number
18
Isotope.symbol
F
Isotope.num_neutrons
9
Isotope.num_protons
9
Isotope.abundance
Radioisotope
Isotope.decay_mode1
Positron emission (97%)
Isotope.decay_energy1
0.6335
Isotope.decay_mode2
Electron capture (3%)
Isotope.decay_energy2
1.6555
Isotope.decay_product
Oxygen-18
Isotope.decay_symbol
O
Isotope.decay_mass
18
Isotope.mass
18.0009380
Isotope.spin
1+

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Subclass of
fluorine
Mass
18.000937325
Image
Fluorine-18.svg
Show 10 more facts
decays to
oxygen-18
atomic number
9
neutron number
9
half-life
109.77
spin quantum number
1.0
parity quantum number
1
canonical SMILES
[F]
isomeric SMILES
[18F]
mass excess
873.113
binding energy
137369.484
Sources (8)

via Wikidata · CC0

~3 min read

Encyclopedic overview

6 sections
Contents
  • Natural occurrence
  • Synthesis
  • History
  • Chemistry
  • Applications
  • References

Fluorine-18 (18F, also called radiofluorine) is a fluorine radioisotope which is an important source of positrons. Its half-life is 109.734 minutes, less than two hours, and one of the shortest of radioisotopes with use outside research. It decays by positron emission 96.7% of the time and electron capture 3.3% of the time. Both modes of decay yield stable oxygen-18.

== Natural occurrence == is a cosmogenic trace radioisotope produced by spallation of atmospheric argon or by reaction of protons with oxygen-18 in the air: 18O + p → 18F + n.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “fluorine-18” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.